Hardee's Unleashes 920-Calorie Burrito Bomb

By consumerist.comOctober 16, 2007

Hardee’s new Country Breakfast Burrito contains two egg omelets packed with bacon, sausage, diced ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy… and 920 calories. We’ve never eaten two omelets in one sitting, and hope to never have to.

“This is no ordinary breakfast burrito,” said Brad Haley, executive vice president of Marketing for Hardee’s restaurants. “It’s an entire country breakfast in the palm of your hand.”

Four years ago, Hardee’s introduced a 1,420 calorie Thickburger, and 1,100 calorie salad. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has called Thickburgers, “food porn.” They dubbed this latest creation, “another lousy invention by a fast-food company.”

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I have to admit, Hardee’s doesn’t mess around. I have to admit I had a Monster Thickburger once (the 1420 calorie burger). It was definitely a days meals in 1 sit down.

Though I think Hardee’s is marketing themselves to construction workers and the like (I remember a commercial featuring an actor dressed as a construction worker). It’s not like any sane person won’t realize this is a calorie laden burrito. It’s not like they are hiding it.

It’s like the food of the gods. I would have stuffed some cracklins or a fried biscuit inside, but I guess the 920 calories is a better psychological “price point” than 1000 calories. If only I were metabolizing food like I was 17 again I would put this bad MFer down.

I think they’re just pretending their market is construction workers (and mechanics, and steelworkers, and…etc). They want to be seen as the place where big, macho dudes go to eat, so all the scrawny nerds and big fatasses can think they’re all manly when they go scarf down 1420 calories in one burger. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the pitch seems to be working.

This is definitely along the same lines as their breakfast bowl, which just looks like they dump all this meat cheese and eggs together. Their Thickburgers are very good, although I try to limit my consumption of them. People have to take responsibility for their own actions. Hardee’s isn’t making anybody eat these, although I don’t think they have any healthy alternatives on their menu. If you are looking to eat healthy, stay clear of Hardee’s.

O/T – Their advertising, both on tv and the radio, annoys me to no end. I hate the guy’s voice and the implication men are so stupid they can’t even fix toast.

They should do a cross promotion with those Alaskan crab fishermen from Deadliest Catch, cause those are the people that actually need 5000+ calories a day. 2 920-Calorie Burrito Bombs and 2 1,420 calorie Thickburgers and your still under just under 5000 for the day.

Honestly, i’d like to try one. Some of the best and tastiest food items are the worst for you. My metabolism is pretty fast so having one won’t kill me but I feel for the people who will make this a part of their daily breakfast. god help them

@middy: Dude, people should be able to eat whatever they want. The problem becomes when they treat their bodies like crap and need to get medical treatment which subsequently increases my insurance premiums… why should I have to subsidize these people who treat their bodies like crap?

Lol this is awesome. I like Hardees. I eat there maybe twice a year. (Hah!) Their hamburgers are tasty, but I never get the big ones. I would try something like this once, on a day where I’ve prepared to eat the burrito and nothing but the burrito.

It all comes down to personal decisions. I’m honestly surprised it’s under 1000 calories. You can eat it, but you better be able to work off the lard like the construction workers in the commercials. One thing that you have to commend, though, is that they don’t market this sort of stuff toward children in any overt way.

I absolutely cannot STAND “the sound”. You know, that juicy, crunchy bite sound in their commercials when the husky dude bites into the obscenely huge sandwich? Ugh, that drives me up the f’ing wall!

@middy, @hypnotik_jello: They should be able to eat whatever they want… but at the same time the “do whatever they want” thing has repercussions on the rest of us, like hypnotik pointed out… Hopefully the market will eradicate this menu item… eventually.

I guess the iron triangle of this century will be more like a hexagram, with the old defense contractors and such… and the new Fast Food – Insurance Companies – Physicians triangle.

im gonna go out on a limb here and say that most burritos are in the 800+ calorie range. in fact, according to the chipotle calculator a chicken burrito with rice, beans, cheese & sour cream is 1179 calories. . .

i eat a tofu burrito with rice, black & pinto beans, cheese, sour cream & guacamole + a side of chips from my favourite local taqueria once a week (TOFU TUESDAY) without thinking twice. im sure its 1000+ calories, too.

could this be a case of consumerist fast food prejudice? yeah, maybe people that eat fast food & shop at walmart are at the bottom rung of society (or maybe just lazy). is it really necessary to criticize every single thing they do?

moral of the story : regardless of where they come from burritos are good, but maybe not the best for you.

It looks like what they’re calling “gravy”, we’d call, “a half cuppa high fructose corn syrup-impregnated artificial mayonaise spread with a couple mysterious specs in it so you don’t mistake it as ‘man juice’ sauce.” If I were The South, I’d start another war over that slander.

What, no muslim-friendly version? Now the jihadis are going to be really upset.

I havent seen a Hardys in NYC but if there was one I would try it out on like my day off and just snack on it throughout the day. I think a more appropriate name for it would be the Hobbits 1st and 2nd breakfast burrito.

Honestly I want one and will try one sometime soon. I’ll take it home with me and drizzle a few teaspoons of tobasco in it as I eat it, that combined with my already fast metabolism should save me from 2/3 of the calorie intake.

The last batch of burrito shells I bought at the supermarket (Mission whole wheat carb counting whatever burrito tortillas) were 200 calories apiece. Just one shell on its own. Any burrito is going to hit pretty high on the calorie meter.

The key, and I may be going out on a limb here, is to not order one of these things every single fucking morning. That may keep the national waistline under a men’s 50″.

I would be willing to wager than many American’s reach or exceed 900+ calories in a sitting without even knowing it. Especially dinner. Think about a sit down, non fast food, restaurant with large portions. Have those added up and see what you get.

Don’t fault Hardee’s for marketing to a different demographic. Seems all fast food is trying to market healthy now. Fact is, if you want to eat healthy fast food is typically not the way to go.

It’s all about choices. Look, if nobody bought it, they wouldn’t sell it. The consumer majority determines what type product will be sold. If people only bought the healthy items at McDonald’s, the menu would be overtaken with health conscious items. The fact is people go to there for the Big Macs, not the salads.

I don’t what understand every one is complaining about. Omelets with bacon, sausage, diced ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy? I won’t eat it every day but it sounds like what I normally order at diners. Unfortunately, it’s at Hardee’s so it’s a no go for me.

@Saboth: No way salsa bleech! Good country gravy is THE correct sauce here. Keep the salsa for bean burritos.@3ZKL: Tofu burrito? eww I just threw up in my mouth a little. Tofu is the nastiest crap ever, and with the way they make it now its not even healthy anymore.

I hope, hope , hope Carl’s Jr gets these. I love me some pig, of course my wife and I would probably have to share it but it still looks deeeelish..

Now, why can’t these fast food places make a decadent but sensible breakfast, like a cup of good coffee and a fairly large crossaint? Tasty, a bit fattening, and handheld. But it won’t give you a food coma for the day. If they can make frozen rising pizzas, I’m sure the black magic of fast food manufacturing could make a frozen rising crossaint that looks and tastes okay.

Some people here say this sounds good. For me, I never get eating breakfast out. 9/10 breakfast items can be made in the time it takes to drive to the place, and you can usually make them better. Scrambled eggs are good made right, but it only takes 7 minutes if you haven’t had your coffee yet. Sausage is simply browned until it changes color. It’s all pretty braindead cooking. I just see this as 2-3 pounds of so-so food, not really worth powering through.

@Nemesis_Enforcer: Tofu is good made right. The problem is that in America, people think they can treat it and serve it like meat. It’s a blank canvas. Try some stir fried tofu served over pad thai. It has been marinated and it tastes great. Or try it breaded and fried. It’s a good source of vegetarian protein, but it isn’t meat.

I would try this at least once, especially on a day when I didn’t know when I would get a chance for lunch. Honestly, it can’t be worse then some of the other food that I have gotten from street vendors or those silver food wagons. And I use the term “food” loosley.

Oddly enough, take away the burrito and add some toast, and you’ve got the exact breakfast I made for myself yesterday. Kinda. I used 8 eggs and 1.5 pounds of sausage and went a little on the light side for the bacon. Saw a commercial for this last night and all I could say was ‘Goddamn that would be good’. Am I going to eat it every day? No. Am I going to become a big fat fuck because of it? No. Should I be concerned that everyone around me is going to eat 900 of them and become big fat fucks? No. Am I rambling? Yes.

@hellinmyeyes: I am so with you on the sound. How they block out all background noise, close up on the mug of the person shoving food into their mouth, and all you can hear is the biting and crunching and lip smacking. Vomitous.

That being said, if this is eaten as your big meal of the morning, then you have an early dinner, it’s not so bad calorie-wise. Also, you don’t need to be eating it all the time. I might have eaten one during, say, my 2 roadtrips between Oregon and Florida – eat one in the morning to last me through most of the day, till we stopped for dinner. Sure, there are people who will not be quite so judicious, but that’s their deal. I understand the argument that eventually the poor eating habits of a population can come back to hurt us in the form of higher healthcare costs, but in the end the choice of what to eat is a personal one. People can rail all they want about fast food offering this stuff, but they wouldn’t sell it if people weren’t eating it and coming back for more.

um, so what?People freaked out about their last calorie bomb and it increased sales.Here’s a revelation for the health nuts out there:most people don’t give a damn.Most folks want cheap, filling meals.If they chose to eat a 1200 calorie gut bomb for breakfast, that’s their perogative.Often, the difference between a huge fatty and a trim person is the food choices they make. Let them make those choices.This IS still America, right? Freedom? Hello?

@rmz: It’s a bit more complicated than that. First you have to consider the bioavailability of nutrients which may vary depending on the individual/time of day/meal breakdown. Also consider the metabolic advantage (i.e. protein and fat require more energy just to metabolize than simple sugars/starches). Moreover, the ratio of nutrients that end up in the stool varies quite a bit. Also different macronutrient ratios influence fat and muscle anabolism in different ways which has more to do with the ratio than the total quantity.

More simply: it ain’t just the calories, but where those calories come from. 100 calories from pure sugar is not the same as 25 protein, 25 sat. fat, 25 sugar, 25 omega-3s.

I dunno. If it was half the size (two omelets?!) it would sound pretty tasty. Maybe not every day. Certainly not every day. But I’d try it, though given the size it currently is, I doubt I could finish it.

The smoked sausage scramble from Denny’s is 1480 calories, 88 grams of fat (30g saturated), 610mg of cholesterol, and a whopping 4340mg of sodium. For a sedentary adult, that’s approaching the daily calorie limit, and FAR over on other stuff.

Uh, just because we would risk bodily injury to protect America’s right to choice – dwindling as we speak thanks to unnamed party in the White House – doesn’t mean we don’t get to snicker and point fingers at lard-asses that seize the ball of freedom goodness and run off a cliff with it.

I’m just worried about all those poor shoe salesmen, though. Who buys shoes when you’re too fat to see your feet? Think of the SHOE SALESMEN!

Here’s the piece nobody mentions:The breakfast sandwiches at most fast food restaurants usually sell in quantities of 2 or 3, making breakfast relatively expensive.Hardees is offering a product that you wont likely finish by yourself for under $3.What a crime against humanity? Affordable food that is honest about itself? For shame! No, the croissanwhich isn’t bad for your if you eat one, but most of us order more than one, or add on deep fried hash brown nuggets, making the meal just as bad for you.

I hate to go all libertarian on everyone, but last time I checked adults were allowed to eat anything they wanted.

Nutritional information is also widely available, and most people who are capable of buying fast food for themselves can also count calories, if they are so inclined.

Some of us are not inclined, nor should we feel it is our Responsibility as Good Citizens to be. The personal responsibility argument works both ways. If I am personally responsible for my nutritional health, then I get to make the decisions about what I eat. Some days, that might include a 900-kcal breakfast-omelet-gravy burrito.

It’s funny how people bitch and complain saying how it’s gow awful and that it’s so many calories, but they don’t realize if you go to any restaurant and order breakfast (let’s say, 2 eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast with butter) you are pretty much getting the same thing.

I myself have had one of these giant hand-held breakfasts, it was amazingly delicious with a mello yello and some hashbrowns on the side, it was a ton of food and more than i needed for breakfast but i have a pretty big stoumach and finished it all off.. it made me full but later that day i went and got a thickburger with fries and another mello yello.. i have a very high metabolism so i didnt worry about it.. me being 5′ 11″ 120 lbs.. i dont worry about anything that i eat.. except during the wrestling season.. not a good time.. but other than that i go for these things all the time